Generally, an elevator car traveling through an elevator passage in a building is suspended from one end of a hoist rope, which is supported by a driving pulley and is connected at the other end thereof to a counterbalance typically having a heavier weight than the elevator car.
The elevator passage is provided with a vertical rail, on which rollers protruding from the elevator car are mounted to guide movement of the elevator car within the elevator passage, so that the elevator car is prevented from moving horizontally during movement of the elevator car in a vertical direction.
Fixed beams are placed under the driving pulley and a safety brake apparatus is mounted on the fixed beams to hold the hoist rope in order to prevent the elevator car from moving upon occurrence of an emergency, such as power-off of an elevator system, operation of the elevator car with a car door open, and the like.
Typically, for a performance test of such a safety brake apparatus, an elevator car is directly installed to a test tower and is allowed to free fall therefrom.